The Choices we Make
by Naruto1over
Summary: Sasuke is a depressed highschooler looking for love. He finds it in a girl that seems out of reach but yet so close. Full of surprises and romance. SasuInoHina. Rated T for suggestive themes, drug content and language. Please Review!
1. The Same Old Thing

**This is my first fic. I hope you like it, I update very regularly and can't wait to see how it turns out.**

The Choices we Make

Sasuke took another deep breath of the cold mountain air as he returned from a day of school. He envisioned the air traveling down into his lungs and wished he could watch the oxygen permeate his veins and bloodstream. Wearing only a brown turtleneck and shorts Sasuke felt completely under dressed for the temperature. Chouji walked beside him, oblivious to his surroundings and attempted common conversation.

"So... Sasuke, whats agoin' on?"He jostled and waited patiently for a reply.

"Nothing. Well, I overheard that we have the possibility of a pop quiz in math tomorrow."

"Again! We had one like, two days ago!" Chouji shook his head in disgust.

"I know." Sasuke said calmly and stared into the bluish sky.

Sasuke's house was closer to the school, about a quarter mile away, but for personal reasons it was usually best for the two to do their homework at Chouji's place.

Conversation dwindled then started again then repeated the cycle. After a minute of complete silence they would be laughing or should I say Chouji would be laughing. Sasuke was always more reserved than Chouji or anyone in Twilight Town for that matter and hardly spoke a word unless provoked. But Chouji made up for his absence of speech by being as lively and as talkative as any slightly overweight high schooler could be.

"Here we are." Chouji walked over to the obvious hide-a-key and unlocked the door to the two story duplex. He peeked inside then pulled his hand to his mouth indicating to be quiet, not that it was a problem for Sasuke.

"Dad's asleep." Chouji mouthed and motioned to go around back. Sasuke walked around and was followed by an exaggerated stealth master Chouji with the key. It chinked and clicked to the unlocking of the door and they snuck inside. The TV was on and was playing sex and the city proving that Mr. Otari had been asleep for a while. Sasuke noticed the root beer bottles strewn across the floor and chuckled at Chouji's fathers childishness, both of them knew that Mr. Otari never got near any alcohol whatsoever but put on the drunken look most of the time pretty well.

They walked upstairs and into Chouji's room past a spazzy cat and his brothers room. They opened his door and revealed a completely trashed room. There were dirty clothes on the TV and an upside down slice of pizza on the carpet and Sasuke didn't even want to know what was in the closet. Chouji jumped down onto his bed and turned on the television, he felt right at home. Sasuke got out his English homework and began scribbling down drabble.

"I tell ya', I am sick of all of all of Naruto and Hayner's bull. What did I ever do to them?"Chouji asked.

"You got in their way." He replied in a deep and melancholy tone.

"Yeah, once, but that's not reason enough to torment me for my entire life."

"True." Sasuke finished his English vocab sentences and started on math.

"They should just leave us alone."

"Just ignore them."

"Its not that easy. I got off of myspace because their plague had spread to that area as well. I'm afraid that we may have a world wide pandemic on our hands Sasuke." Chouji finished patriotically.

A lengthy pause ensued filled with thoughtful daydreaming of a better world. Then it stopped and they got back to their homework.

I'm hungry. Sasuke thought and cleared his throat.

"Can I get a snack?" He asked.

"Yeah sure, we've got chips and uh, basically everything you need, you know where to find them."

"Thanks." He said and walked downstairs. Sex and the City had finished and now the asleep Mr. Otari was watching 'Top ten Summer Fashions' and completely unaware of Sasukes presence. He walked not all that carefully down into the kitchen to pick up a box of poptarts and a drink. As he was pouring himself a cup of orange juice he saw the reflection of a beautiful girl walking down the street in a mirror and couldn't help but stare.

Her blonde hair caught in the brisk wind and she brushed it out of her eyes with the back of her hand. She wore a light blue and light red striped scarf around her skinny neck and a pair of black jeans. He could only infer what she looked like in normal clothes.

Stop being a pervert! And clean up this mess you made! While stargazing Sasuke forgot entirely about the orange juice and it managed to spill all over the counter. He picked up a ring of paper towels and wiped up the mess. When he had cleaned up completely he looked up and out the window, strangely the girl had gone. He felt a tinge of sadness as if he had lost something forever and missed her absence already. He hadn't even seen her face.

Mr. Otari grumbled and shifted on the couch. Not wanting to disturb him Sasuke jogged carefully with the snack and drink back upstairs. There Chouji was laying on his bed reading teen vogue magazine.

"Come on man, you can do better than this." Sasuke joked and threw the magazine on the floor.

"What! I'm doing... reconnaissance." He mumbled in response.

"Yeah. Sure."

"Seriously! I'm finding out the things that girls look for in guys, see it says here that 'make sure he cares about you and will never judge you,' cool with me." Chouji explained. "Ooh another one 'and if he's too interested in your looks then dump him on the spot.' Mehehehe." Sasuke smiled. "If I ever get a girlfriend that one will be hard for me."

Sasuke nodded his head in agreement and stared at the TV screen.

"See ya man." Chouji waved goodbye to a departing Sasuke who returned the gesture. He walked slowly through the yard onto the sidewalk and began his trek home. As he stepped on a crumpled leaf he began to worry about his mother. She was prone to sporadic instances of depression, at the blink of an eye she could change moods. Hopefully when he arrived she would be in one of her more passive moods and not throw anything at him out of distress.

A biker flew by and deftly got out of its way. He had a strange urge to tackle the man riding off his bike and onto the grass. Sasuke hated bikes, he hated all fast things. Why waste all that speed and energy just to get to some meaningless destination quicker. Running was fine but bikes and skateboards were too loud for Sasukes tastes and had a much higher possibility of injury involved. Taking things slow and enjoying every last detail was the way that he lived.

He reached his house within five minutes and was happy to see his mom cooking dinner on the stove. It smelled like pork chops.

"What's for dinner?"

"Pork chops."

"Ill help make a salad."

"Okay, I think I bought some lettuce yesterday. Its in the fridge." She pointed with a spatula.

Sasuke opened the door to the refrigerator and was astonished at how empty it was. There was a few apples, half a carton of milk and some lettuce.

I'm happy I went to Chouji's, would of starved here.

"I thought you were supposed to go to the grocery store today."

"Sorry, I was... busy." It was then that Sasuke noticed the water stains on her sweater and her somewhat red eyes.

"Mom, you have to see a doctor about this-."

"Oh hush, I'm fine. Tell you what. Right after you go to school tomorrow I'm gonna go get 30 dollars worth of groceries, okay?" She smiled at him.

"Alright, then you go up to that laundromat down the road and talk about that empty job slot they have."

"Deal."

That night Sasuke slept soundly and didn't worry about a thing. He didn't have the best life but that was okay, and he could deal with that. He never dreamt of anything but that night the girl in the scarf crept into his mind.

He was chasing her through a maze like mansion and from the angle he was running from he could never see her face. She was only walking but Sasuke was always far behind her. Then finally he grabbed hold of her arm and turned her around to at last see her face-

The alarm clock buzzed. 6:30.

Shit. Sasuke kicked off his blankets and turned off the annoying buzzer. He cursed in his mind and walked over to the bathroom for a shower. In his early morning daze he stepped in before the cascading water warmed up and got pummeled with what felt like icicles.

"SHIT!" He exclaimed loudly jumping around naked in the shower and wildly turned the faucet away from him. As you can tell he greatly looked forward to school in the mornings.

**Please review. ;)**


	2. Welcoming

**Another chapter is up. Please R and R.**

Sasuke got out of the shower and shook his head violently spraying the mirror with particles of water. He then picked up the towel and wrapped it around his waist and stepped out of the over-condensated bathroom. The sharply cold air stung his bare skin and caused him to shiver as he walked into his bedroom. There he picked out the first shirt he saw, a blue polo hanging on a doorknob, some boxers, jeans and remembering how cold it was yesterday a jacket as well. He put the clothes on silently thinking hard about a movie he had seen a few nights ago.

He walked into the kitchen and looked inside the refrigerator for any scrap of food. He was unsuccessful. So instead of breakfast that morning he could write his mom a note reminding her to get groceries. He was bored and it was only 6:50 so he had time to read another chapter in his book "Childhoods End". It was a science fiction novel by one of his favorite authors and reading it brought his mind away from the subtle displeasures of life.

Usually by the time that Sasuke had finished the chapter he could have made himself breakfast and lunch but thanks to his mothers forgetfulness he would be fasting that day. His stomach was already grumbling. Ill have to bribe Chouji for some food, that will be hard seeing how much he loves his lunch. But if I cant get him to supply me with something then Ill be going' Hindu. Sasuke was anything but religious and subliminally laughed at anyone who told him to join their church but he did believe in something beyond atheism. He often thought about the concept of religion late into the night and occasionally Chouji and him conversed about their views.

As Sasuke arrived at school a feeling of vertigo overtook him. He felt faint and dizzy and had to sit down on the curb to regain his balance. Eventually, a sense of stability returned to his mind and he could stand up once again.

"You okay man?" Chouji's voice came from behind him and Sasuke turned around drunkenly.

"Yeah." He walked with him regaining balance as he went.

"What happened there?"

"I have no earthly idea."Sasuke responded. "I just got all dizzy and my vision went black."

"Ah, that's happened to me before, usually right after I am way too tired or something like that." Sasuke nodded with interest and walked into the warmed up entrance hall of Twilight High.

Morning meetings were never fun but today Mr. Redari was being especially annoying. He decided to go over the entire years sport schedule that very morning. By the end of it all the 10th graders were groaning with disgust and boredom. Sadly, when Chouji and Sasuke split to go to different level math classes he forgot to ask him for a snack and would have to suffer through the next few hours.

"Today, we are going to be doing a unit 4 pop quiz. Hope you've been studying your Pythagorean theorem." the class groaned emphatically to the teachers cruel delight and she began passing out the papers. Sasuke was actually somewhat prepared for the quiz, he had a hunch about it all of yesterday and had reviewed for five minutes that night. Occasionally Chouji and he would nimbly swap test papers and edit each others mistakes but he wasn't in Sasukes math class and he had no support this time. Not that he needed it, Sasuke wasn't bad at math at all.

The questions were simple enough, just easily dissected problems dealing with one or two variables. Soon after getting the test done Sasuke was bored out of his mind and began to doodle. Being in art class every semester he had become a very seasoned artist he could sketch quite well and decided to draw a scarf. He based it on the girl he had seen the day before and before he knew it he was drawing her as well. He focused intensely on the back side of his test paper and soon forgot entirely about his surroundings. She was facing away from him in the picture but Sasuke could already tell that she was beautiful.

Just as he was finished the blaring bell rang and surprised everybody in the classroom especially Sasuke.

"Turn in your tests before you go!" The teacher screamed over the stomping of the fleeing students. Sasuke was saddened by the loss of his portrait and walked out the door in a disheartened mood. As he was stepping out the door to go to his locker he was knocked to the floor. He looked up as a snickering Naruto raced through the crowd with his assistant Hayner. Sasuke shook it off and picked up his textbooks on the outside but internally he was harvesting a burning hatred for the boy that had been building from since the day that they met.

Chouji waved as he walked into English before him. Sasuke sluggishly followed him inside the room with as little gusto as he could muster. When he entered it seemed as if he had been hit by a wave of adrenaline and lust. The girl was sitting before him. She entranced him by simply sitting there looking like anyone would down at her English vocabulary sheet. Sasuke eventually sat down but still kept his eyes on her out of fear that she might dissipate into thin air as she seemed to do earlier.

Chouji tapped him on the shoulder and said "damn, who opened the pearly gates of heaven and let out this angel?" Sasuke would have smiled at the joke but was too busy gazing at the goddess that sat in the back row. But he wasn't alone in his infatuation, almost every guy in the room was eying the new girl and calculating the potential of a girlfriend opportunity in their mind.

Then Naruto strutted into the room, he also spotted the nymph-like girl who sat next to an empty seat and sat down casually. She didn't look up. He motioned to Hayner to keep away from his space and proceeded with small talk.

"So I hear you're new in town," He mentioned smoothly. She nodded.

"What do ya think so far?" Naruto and everyone listened intently for some reply.

"Seems nice." She replied calmly. Her voice was quiet but possessed a certain quality that made it stand out over the buzz of talkative chatter.

"Good. I have to warn you, Mrs. Hazer can be kinda' strict." She looked up and proved that her face was as pleasant as her body and smiled at him kindly.

"Thank you. I'm Ino by the way."

"Naruto. Happy to help." Naruto grinned smugly to himself and got a thumbs up from Hayner while every other boy in the room burned with jealousy.

Another point for Naruto. Sasuke told himself that there would be others, but then asked who? and when? There was another new kid in class, a guy. He was concerned with his Ipod and was wildly bobbing his head to the beat. He wore underarmor and a loose T-shirt that said 'UP' sideways on it. Sasuke didn't get it, but he knew that there was something strange about the fellow and would soon find out.

**Tell me what ya think.**

**Thanks.**


	3. Introductions

**Hey, please read and review. I think you'll like this chapter.**

Sasuke sat up as Mrs. Hazer entered the room looking intoxicated as usual and watched her clumsily put her books down on her desk. He stifled a laugh and caused a noticeable noise to emanate from his mouth. Ino looked over at him in wonder of what the disturbance was and their eyes met strikingly. He was stunned but soon retrieved his wits and looked back at her. He waited for a response, a smile, a wave, hell; he'd be fine with anything at all. But what he got was even better, a 10 second staring contest with the prettiest girl in school. She didn't carry any expression on her face but in her eyes Sasuke could tell that there was something more to the girl as he pondered through her facial features. The look that they gave each other would have gone on for longer had Naruto not noticed the spectacle and intervened.

"Hey Ino." He thought wildly for an excuse. "Do you have any gum?"

She shook her head. "Sorry." She said and looked away from him back at her vocabulary words. Naruto glared at Sasuke oppressively and tilted his head toward Ino then he pointed to his chest indicating possession. Sasuke had to look away from the tyrant, he couldn't stand looking into his evil eyes, and it reminded him of a devil. He stared at his desk feeling defeated and mellow.

The loud techno from the boy in the corners IPod continued throughout the entire class period and conversation commenced again between Ino and Naruto. The teacher lay slumped in her chair drooling slightly on her chin and was completely oblivious to the pupils as they talked away for the next hour. Sasuke conversed with Chouji the entire time subtly about the new students in the school.

"She is sooo hot."

"Yeah."

"You should ask her out." Chouji said.

"What?" Sasuke retorted. "What would a girl like that want with me?"

"I don't know just give it a shot, what's the worst thing that could possibly happen?" He paused before answering, and thought of the consequences.

"It's not that, she just already fell into the tractor beam of Naruto."

"I see. Sucks." Chouji said nodding and got back to working on his unfinished History homework. Sasuke returned his attention to the ceiling and the sound of the new kid's IPod buzzing away. He closed his eyes and wished that he had something to do; school was so endlessly boring.

The bell thankfully rang and Sasuke jumped out of his seat energetically. He sprinted out to his locker hoping that something would happen. His prayers were not answered.

History was usually a fun class and hopefully the professor had an interesting lesson for them that day. Chouji and Sasuke walked into the room and looked around curiously. Mr. Iruka had the room set up into 3 desk segments and being the first ones into class they chose two seats near the back window. Students poured in and as they did Sasuke wished that Ino would sit in their empty seat. But as the bell rang and the last students raced inside there was no Ino and Chouji and he were alone, as usual. Then the new boy wearing the underarmour peeked around the corner. He had finally put the IPod in his pocket. He was wearing bell-bottom pants.

"This is Mr. Iruka's room, right?" The new kid smiled cautiously.

"You better believe it is, come on in, tell us your name." Mr. Iruka said in a benign tone.

"Lee." the boy said and walked over to the empty seat next to Sasuke and Chouji. Obviously Mr. Iruka had known about the new student's arrival.

"Alright Lee so take a seat. Our current unit ancient Mesopotamian religion and I'm sure that Sasuke or Chouji will be happy to fill you in on the details. Lee sat down and nodded at the two.

"Today we're starting a group project on the gods of Mesopotamian culture and how they affected us today. This is due Next Monday so that'll give you a grand amount of time to complete it." He sat down at his desk and began grading tests.

"Do you guys know anything about Mesopotamia?" Lee asked quietly. Sasuke and Chouji looked at each other and then back at Lee and shook their heads. He laughed and they did as well. Not out intimidation but because it was actually kind of pathetic. They had been studying the unit for two weeks now and neither of them knew anything about Mesopotamia.

"So which one of you is Sasuke and which one is Chouji." He asked calmly. Conversation the classroom had picked up.

"I'm Sasuke, and that's Chouji." Chouji waved distantly.

"Alright, so fill me in what's the deal with the school? How do you like it?"

Usually being the talkative one Chouji went and joined the conversation. "Its nice, just watch out for Naruto, he's the over confident blond asshole who hangs out with Neji."He didn't have to worry about keeping his voice down because none of Naruto' cronies were in that class.

"Okay."

"Where did you come from?" Sasuke inquired and clutched his stomach sensing a foreboding growl.

"I was born and lived in a group of isles called Namaji islands, have you heard of it?"

"Cant say I have. What was it like there?"It was then that he realized how tan Lee was.

"Very... warm." He looked out the window at the gray sky. "I never had to wear a sweater before this, the jog from the orphanage was kind of chilly but that couldn't make me ride the bus."

"Hold up, you're an orphan?" Chouji asked curiously.

"Right, I forgot to tell you. Yeah, well there was this crazy guy who had to live out some ludicrous fantasy that involved the killing of my parents and others." Sasuke and Chouji stared in shock at Lee's calmness. "It's cool though my parents were losers to me anyway. So the town shipped me off to the coldest place that they could find and threw me in the orphanage."

"Is that Ino girl from Namaji islands to?"

"Um, yeah, she is. She is actually sad about her loss so be careful about what you say to her." Lee spoke in such an upbeat tone about ominous topics in a way that was surreal.

The class carried on as normal and the trio started on their project completing much of it in that period.

History ended and Lee, Sasuke and Chouji walked out of the class together as newfound friends and stepped downstairs to lunch. Thank God. My stomach is killing me.

A lot of kids ordered hot lunches and the lines, Sasuke noticed, were quite long indeed. Lee groaned fervently as he walked in and went to sit with Sasuke and Chouji before waiting in line.

"Jeez! the lines here are really long." He blurted over the sound of their fellow noisy teenagers. Chouji started up a conversation with him about the food at their school and how it was so tasty. Sasuke simply stared exuberantly and enviously at Ino and Naruto sitting side by side at a few tables away. They were talking and laughing vigorously but Sasuke knew that Ino would get hurt by him, all that Naruto wanted out of girls... Lets not go on a tirade. Calm down man.

He zoned back in to hear Chouji jovially jostling the junior sitting next to him about the kind of car that he drove or as he soon found out the car that he didn't drive.

"You mean that you jogged all the way here! That's like 3 miles!" Sasuke imagined Chouji in sweats, jogging around and smiled at the thought.

"Its not that far, well, kind of." Chouji wasn't convinced. "Come on, haven't either of you ever been on a jog before?" Neither of them moved, out of embarrassment. "COME ON! This is ridiculous. Okay, today after school its runnin' time."

"I... I cant jog well." Chouji mumbled.

"I can teach ya." He grinned cheesily and jostled Chouji back.

"Ill go." Sasuke butted in tired of witnessing the dialogue.

"Great!" Lee clasped his hands together. "So where do you all live?"

"My dads place is on oak street, about 1/3 of a mile down that road and you take a right." He pointed. "I can show you where Sasuke lives from there."

"Cool. Ill come over after school." Lee said beaming still over his victory over Chouji's self-consciousness. "Now let me get some lunch."

**Please review, tell me what you think.**

**Thanks!**


	4. The Closet

**Chapter 4**

After an eventful French Class, a monotonous drug awareness speech from the Principal, and Study Hall Sasuke was able to walk home. He waited for the stampede following the final bell to leave out of fear of entramplement by the bulky seniors. Sasuke peeked his head out of the Section B 9th grade study room and stared out across the barren hallway.

All clear. He said to himself and ambulated casually to the exit. A giggle ricocheted down the hall and caught the attention of the dark-haired boy. He turned around. Naruto and Ino were walking down the hallway together not holding hands but they put off an aura of passion as they ambled to the way out. Sasuke kept walking, willing himself not to look back and see Naruto' smug face staring back at him. He could just picture how he looked knowing that he had yet again conquered the unpopular.

Sasuke was mentally fuming as he rounded the corner down Galvan Street to his house. The walk felt shorter than it usually did, probably because all the interesting things that had happened that day occupied his thoughts. A new friend every once in a while doesn't hurt anything.

When he got home Sasuke found a full fridge and was proud that his Mother had actually gone through with her promise to get groceries. He was still somewhat hungry from not having any breakfast and he got himself a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles, brought it into the living room and began munching in front of an open newspaper. Normally Sasuke didn't read the news but the house was remarkably quiet and he was in need of an activity.

"Mom! Are you there?" He yelled backwards down the musty hall.

"What. What is it?" She walked out of her room carrying a book in one arm, wearing her pajamas.

"Oh, nothing. Just wondering where you were." Actually, ever since Aerith had tried to commit suicide with sleeping pills Sasuke stayed on edge.

"I love this book; Jane Austen really brings out my true self when I read it." She put in a makeshift bookmark.

" Cool, hey, did you see about that job offer up at the Laundromat?" Sasuke inquired eating a spoonful of cereal.

"Yeah, they said I could start working in two days. The hours are from 8 to 5 on weekdays and 10 to 4 on the weekends. 57 hours a week." She frowned with negative anticipation at the work to come. "Well, the good news is that in 2 months we can buy a TV." She walked back into her room.

This was a topic of great interest for Sasuke, ever since his father, died two years ago there hadn't been much money in the house and they had to sell their television. Except at Chouji's there had been no movies or TV for a long time.

While he was pondering this fact the chime of a doorbell rang out in the silence. Just then Sasuke remembered about the jog he was supposed to be preparing for.

"Hey."

"Sup." Said Chouji slightly bashfully, completely dressed in jogger's attire. Lee smiled and looked about the residence of Sasuke.

"Nice place." He said tactfully.

"Thanks, I'll be right out. I should probably get some running clothes on." Sasuke sped away into his unbelievably messy room and cautiously opened the door. There were some sweatpants in the drawer that he slipped on and a half drunken bottle of Gatorade on the floor that he picked up. Fully ready he walked out into the kitchen where Lee and Chouji were sitting. Lee immediately jumped up to his feet as Sasuke rounded the corner obviously eager and bounced on his toes.

"You ready?" Chouji said and sluggishly got out of his chair.

"Yeah, where are we running to?"

"You guys can show me around town but I thought we'd head up to the town square. Where ever that may be." Lee spoke then he ventured back outside. Sasuke and Chouji followed him.

"I guess we could." Chouji said quietly.

"Why not, you don't sound very enthused." Lee vocalized intuitively and began picking up speed.

"Well, its not, our favorite place to go." Sasuke responded for Chouji then he followed up.

"We used to hang out there sometimes but..." Chouji got embarrassed while speaking.

"But what?"

"Naruto kind of, infected, the place, you know what I'm sayin'?"

"Oh, kinda' sucks." Chouji was stopped and pivoted in place just as Lee came back with, "You can't let a little thing like that stop ya." Chouji had to turn around again and had to sprint to catch back up.

"Alright." Sasuke affirmed regretfully.

The wind chill wasn't especially bad that day and Lee was thankful for it. By the time the trio reached Fallow Square it was already dark and the sun had shrunken behind the curvature of the earth creating voluminous shadows on the sidewalk as they ran. Lee was energized, Sasuke was somewhat fatigued and Chouji was utterly exhausted as they trooped into a toasty Cafe.

"This is a nice place; sometimes I come down and eat here when there's no food at home." Sasuke told Lee as he walked up to a table.

"Seems nice," he responded looking around and sat down in an empty chair.

"Could I have a large root beer float? Thanks." Chouji told a waitress as he attempted to lose the tired feeling.

"Cant have soda after a run." Lee mumbled under his breath. The door opened and Yuna and her friend Selim walked in. They sat down at a table and Sasuke noticed that Chouji subconsciously curled away. It was obvious that he liked one of the two. Sadly, they didn't notice and Sasuke felt sorry for him.

If only Chouji could lose some of his shyness. I wonder if Lee likes anyone here.

"Hey Lee, do you like anybody at school yet?"

He looked mildly befuddled. "Not really."

"Come on, there has to be someone who you think looks cute at least. Just describe her."

"Oh yeah, I'm gay." He paused. There weren't hardly any gay guys in Twilight Town.

"Oh, Cool."

"Yeah, I wanted to see how long I could go without telling someone." Lee smiled and Sasuke now fully understood his bizarreness and saw it a new and amiable light.

"It's just that I've never met anyone gay before."

"It's cool. Almost everybody acts that way when I tell 'em." Lee grinned.

"Hey guys what's up?" Chouji said and returned with a Root beer float in hand.

"I was just telling Sasuke that I am gay."

"Oh. Cool." Chouji stammered and caused Sasuke and Lee to crack up.

**So… Lee is gay. Um, yeah. Sorry to disappoint but that really has no effect on the story. Tell me what you think though. And add it to your alerts!**

**Thanks**


	5. Just Perfect

**Chapter 5 is as follows.**

**AN- I'm throwing in a scene of interaction in this chapter, read and see what happens.**

Sasuke waved goodbye simply at Chouji and Lee as he opened his rustic looking front door to his house. The waved back and walked away. The house was silent and dark but Sasuke saw that everything was in order as he had left it and he was not worried. Classical music was on playing a melody that he had never heard before but was refreshing and calm.

Sasuke did the nightly routine, brushing teeth and washing face, but before he jumped under the few covers that he had he decided to work out some. The room had no such equipment for an activity of that sort so Sasuke decided to just do push ups on the floor. After a minute or so of that his arms were somewhat worn out and he did some sit ups. Sasuke hadn't worked out in a while and it was good to feel his stomach muscles burning again. His self respect was growing along with the muscles in his upper body and he was feeling better already.

Weeks passed and Lee became quickly accustomed to the cliques and rituals of Twilight Town high school before the first quarter ended. Sasuke had gotten used to the sight of Naruto and Ino walking down the hall together and had just about given up entirely on meeting her until one eventful lunch period.

I haven't ordered lunch since 9th grade this'll be reviving to say the least. Sasukes muscle memory told him to get a tray and as he was reaching to get it Ino got in the tray getting line behind him. Out of instinct and desperation he handed her the pale blue platter before getting his own.

"Thanks." She said halfheartedly walked into the food line but was closely followed by Sasuke who scrambled to get next to her. As he was scampering up he looked for Naruto but he was no where in sight.

Thank god. If he delays my progress one more time I'd have to- Sasuke nearly crushed a miniscule freshman.

"Hey watch it!"The tiny kid said ecstatically.

The line was long and for once Sasuke was happy about it. But now he was in a predicament, he couldn't say anything without a motive or it would be too obvious.

I got it.

"Can you see what's cookin' up there?" He waited enthusiastically but demurely for a response.

"Nope,"She peered through the crowd as she spoke, "but Fridays are usually Pizza so..." She looked back at Sasuke.

"Wow. You have Really black hair."

"Yeah."

"Did you dye it?" She still stared at his thick head of white hair.

"No. I figured that its some DNA malfunction though, my mom has much lighter hair."

Don't bore her with science facts.

"Cool I love genetics." She ran her hand through her blonde hair. "I've always loved science."

Awesome, at least she won't think that I'm a dork. Sasuke noticed that she had a bruise on her skinny shoulder.

"How did you get that bruise?"

"Oh this? Last weekend some friends and I played paintball. Do you play?" Sasuke had never touched a paintball gun let alone an airsoft rifle but knew that Chouji had a few at his house.

"Not really. But my friend Chouji has an extra that I use."

"Cool, well we're going this Saturday afternoon do you wanna come?"

Holy crap that was quick, but don't sound too enthused. But who's 'we'?

"I guess so. Sure. Would you pick me up at my house or..."

"Yeah Itachi can drive so we'll just come by where ever you live." The lunch Lady gave Ino a slice of Pepperoni Pizza and Sasuke worked to hide his fear. Itachi was Naruto's junior friend and was known to be a noteworthy pyromaniac.

"Okay." The lunch lady slopped a large slice of cheese pizza face down on Sasukes paper plate. "I live on Galvan street. It's down Pine Road."

"So we'll pick you up around 1 o'clock?" Ino looked at him and his thoughts went blank.

She is the most perfect being in the world- Snap out of it!

"Uhh, yeah, sure." Sasuke told her aimlessly as the line came to an end.

"Good. The more the better with paintball. Seeya Sasuke!" She waved and left with her tray quickly and left him wondering where she had learned his name as he walked back to where Chouji and Lee were sitting. "What was that all about?" Chouji asked sarcastically when Sasuke sat down next to him. He had to ask twice because his mind was raging about the upcoming Saturday.

"Oh, yeah, well, somehow I got invited to go paintballing with Ino, Naruto, and his gang.""What!" The chubby teenager exclaimed. "No joke, we talked in the lunch line and I told her where I lived." He smugly took a bite of his overturned pizza.

"So whats she actually like?"

"Not preppy, but not a pot head either, heh, more of a nerd than anything else."

"I'm happy for ya." Lee interjected in an attempt to join the conversation. Of course he could never fully understand Sasukes veneration of Ino, if she was a boy then possibly though.

"Thanks. But I will need to use your spyder... if at all possible."

"Yeah sure, just bring it back unharmed.""I'm actually kinda worried about it, I mean, Ive got no support up there in Ron's van." Sasuke looked at Lee for counsel.

"You'll be fine, whats the worst thing that could happen?" Lee smiled showing pearly white teeth.

"I don't want to even think about it." Lee's advice backfired and sent the anxious boy into a panic.

"Come on, cut it out. So shes dating Naruto, so what? Just try to have fun and don't worry about getting closer to Ino I have a feeling that that will happen on its own." Lee tried to assuage Sasukes fears and they mostly subsided. "Hell its what I do."

"Okay fine." He calmed down and waited for the conversation to switch topics. Eventually it did and Sasuke could concentrate on his food with full intensity.

Shit what do I do! On the surface Sasuke seemed clement but his mind was racing on the inside.

Art Class. The one period of the day that Sasuke could relax. He had a great teacher and a subject that he was good in, it seemed that it couldn't get any better.

"Keep up the good work with your still-lifes. I'll be at my desk if anybody needs anything."The art teacher Mr. Card announced in his British accent then wandered back to his desk and coughed. With only seven kids in the class he had no trouble keeping their attention.

Sasuke walked to a rustic shelf in the room and picked up a piano metronome that he had been drawing a sketch of. He began drawing and thinking of things and within thirty seconds his mind wandered to tomorrows paintball match with Ino and Naruto. Then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Mr. Card said with welcoming kindness and Ino of all people walked in gracefully.

Pant Pant Pant- Chill!

"Hello dear, somethin' you need?" Ino looked stunned by his high British but then answered.

"Oh, Yeah. Mr.- Raymond told me- to come here instead of his study hall because it was too- overflowing- with students." Her speech was broken but so was everybody's when they first heard the infamous accent.

"Make yourself at home. And if you'd like you could take a stab at sketchin' too."

"Okay." She looked around the barren room for a place to sit as Mr. Card returned to his laptop on his desk. Sasuke wanted to appear dis-interested but still wanted to be noticed and it ended up making him crane his neck awkwardly to stare at a painting hanging on the wall.

"Hey Sasuke." He turned his head to face her as she sat down diagonal from him.

"Hey. Whats up." He said in what he thought was a smooth voice.

HOLY SHIT! She Just sat at the Same table as MEEE!

"Are you okay, you're kinda red."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Yep."

**So there you have it. Please Read and Review.**


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